Some time after the fight with the trolls, the party happened upon a Gnoll band demanding a toll of 10 gp per person for passage, 200 gp for a map to the next exit, and 500 gp for a human slave they had captured on the surface. The gnolls also knew he had masterwork equipment worth around 2000 gp. They wanted to sell it all to the Drow slavers, but the negotiation turned sour and in the end all the gnolls except for one died in battle and Silas, the priest of Muir with awesome armor and a wonderful bastard sword was rescued.

When later 21 Gnolls came down the tunnel and noticed the smell of death and blood, they were cautious. But Belflin had heard them come and Krel was ready. He crushed the first Gnoll’s skull. While Belflin helped Silas into his full plate armor, the Gnolls slowly negotiated a passage. And a few minutes later the party released their gnoll prisoner who joined his comrades. There are now 21 cautious Gnolls beneath the valley.

Later they fought three wraiths and the party realized that they were going to wander for a long time before finding anything down here. They started looking for an exit. I fast-forwarded and we skipped all random encounters on the way back, assuming that none were a serious challenge for the heroes. But no XP was gained either.

Back in Bostwick and later in Pembrose, the party heard that three miners had gone missing in Twain, a green dragon had been seen flying over Twain, and that the body of farmer Born Thorhall had been removed from the tempel of Freya in Bostwick. Later the party discovered the footprints of three creatures going from the tempel to the graveyard (and found a piece of dead grey meat on the way). They lost the tracks around the mausoleum standing in the middle of the Bostwick graveyard, but did not find any secret doors. Not even when Krel and Karamutenga lifted the lid of the sarcophagus in the dead of the night. It was empty. No body inside.

On July 17 the party was invited to talk to Kyle and took on the mission to rid his father’s keep from the hobgoblins for the reward of 300 gp each and a +1 heavy crossbow from his great uncle. The party accepted and the death machine descended upon the hobgoblin keep…